Some great views from the top of this Peak. The Elk Pass trail sucks big time going down. Should have went back the way I came, but didn't want to do all those cols again. Sort of a no win situation going back down, unless you want to jump off, which does look possible.

Route Climbed: rock slide bushwhack on west side Date Climbed: July 29, 2001

I definitely climbed this peak the hard way! I climbed the Nippletop slide. First, it was a brutal bushwhack once I left the trail just to find the slide! I crossed a muddy bog by walking only on rocks and sticks. Then I scrambled DOWNHILL along a small brook for about 45 minutes, wondering if I was still going the right way! I was so relieved when I arrived at the bottom of the rock slide! However, the challenges were just beginning. A portion of the rock slide was impassable without Class 5 climbing, so I worked around it in the woods as a miserable bushwhack. Once around this, the slide climb became enjoyable until I got halfway up, where sore legs began to afflict me. Then, to top it off, the clouds increased and it began raining just as I reached the top of the slide. No nice exit existed, so I had to bushwhack by crawling through and under wet cripplebush for several hundred feet until I reached the summit where the trail was. It was a miserable wet hike down. Due to poor planning in regards to time, I ended up hiking the last hour of the hike in the dark with one flashlight between me and my hiking partner, who was upset with me for taking him on such an exhausting climb.

Did this hike on a very cloudy day. It was a nice hike over Bear Den and Dial to get to Nippletop. The summit cone was as steep and pointy as I've been on in the ADKs. The clouds cleared somewhat for a few minutes and we got great views of Dix and down into Elk Pass.